From time to time I write and/or report on things happening in my state of Mississippi…..I saw this and wanted to pass it on.
A Mississippian with a gun killing brown people….sounds like the state’s history in a nut shell….
I am conflicted….should I give him props or ask why? I bet there is more to this story than the PR work a local paper gave him……
News that should make people realize that McCain’s opinions are as worthless as tits on a boar!
How many times have you or your family heard that great American “patriot”, John McCain, scream about the failure of the Obama administration for not coming to the aid of the rebels in their fight against Assad and now ISIS? How many times?
From the beginning McCain has been yelling and ranting about the need to arm and supply the rebels….of course this coming from a senator that has been wrong on foreign policy for at least 20 years……….and he screamed about Libya, Georgia (the country not the state), Syria, etc….one rebellion after another…..he spent more time in front of the cameras than some news anchors….but what about his calls for arming rebels…….
When President Obama was trying to decide whether to arm rebels fighting the Syrian government, he asked the CIA to examine its long track record on such things. The review’s conclusion? It’s usually a waste of time and money—and sometimes only makes matters worse, reports the New York Times. The review looked back over the agency’s 67-year history and found that time and time again—from the Bay of Pigs, to the Sandinistas, to Somali warlords—providing arms to insurgent forces rarely had any significant effect on how things turned out.
That proved especially true if the US provided arms without having American personnel on the ground to provide guidance, as is the case with Syria. One notable exception: The CIA provided arms and training to Afghan rebels fighting the Soviet Union in the 1980s, and the rebels eventually drove the Soviets out. However, intelligence officers from Pakistan were on the ground helping the Afghan fighters. President Obama decided last month to provide limited assistance to Syrian rebels fighting ISIS, prompting a blogger at Firedog Lake to wonder, “What’s the point of commissioning a study just to ignore it?”
Once again McCain has proved that he is nothing but a political hack and still knows NOTHING about foreign policy.
Maybe now would be a good time to stop listening to McCain and giving him a platform to spout his ignorant rants……he proves time and time again to be a front man for the Military-Industrial Complex and not a good US senator……..
Whatcha think?
Just a reminder: 13 years ago today the war in Afghanistan began…..for those that forgot and those that just do not care….
We have committed our military to continuing airstrikes and many nations have joined in the operation. We are hitting them coming and going and the costs are raising quickly. But just how effective are the airstrikes from the Us and its ‘coalition’?
The start of a new week brings not much in the way of encouraging ISIS news. The latest:
- The news: Kurdish fighters battling ISIS in northern Syria say the airstrikes aimed at the militants there haven’t done much to stop the group’s advance on Kobani. Kurds put ISIS’ position as within roughly a mile of the center of the city, which sits along the Turkish border. A rep for the Kurds explains to the Guardian that upon the approach of a jet, the fighters “scatter and hide. … Fighter jets simply cannot hit each and every ISIS fighter on the ground.” Though the Pentagon shares no specifics about strike locations, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reports that the areas around Kobani have been continually hit in recent days.
- The significance: The Guardian sees the Kurds’ assertion as one that will “unsettle those in the US-led coalition … who have signed up to an air war as the best way of taking the fight to ISIS.” As for why Kobani matters, it falls within the stretch of land that ISIS seeks to claim between its “capital” of Raqqa and the border with Turkey, notes CNN.
- The news: The New York Times today reports on what ISIS fighters are using to wage their battle: ammunition from America and other enemy nations of ISIS. The finding comes from Conflict Armament Research’s analysis of 1,730 cartridges found in Syria and Iraq—either sized by Kurdish fighters or gathered by CAR investigators. In the former country, most of the seized cartridges were manufactured in the 1970s and 1980s, most commonly in China. The cartridges found in Iraq were mostly of US origin, and manufactured in the 2000s. More than 80% of the ammunition was made in the US, China, post-Soviet Russia, and Serbia.
- The significance: Per the Times, the data “carries an implicit warning for policy makers and advocates of intervention. It suggests that ammunition transferred into Syria and Iraq to help stabilize governments has instead passed from the governments to the jihadists.”
If the airstrikes are ineffective why continue wasting valuable ordinance and money?
Maybe we should attack them by training those ‘moderate’ rebels to act on our behalf…..whatcha think?
An idiotic idea. Why?
One, we have no earthly idea who the moderate rebels are…..or if they would be willing to be the hammer to ISIS nail.
Two, training….first, a joke at best…….and what are the chances of success with this idea?
The likelihood of Western training for the rebels comes two years and 10 months after General Sir David Richards, the then head of British military, put forward a plan to create an opposition force of 100,000 vetted volunteers.
The Independent revealed at the time how Gen Richards hosted a confidential meeting with the military chiefs of France, Turkey, Jordan, Qatar, the UAE and a three-star US general to formulate the strategy. The issue was discussed by the Obama administration which decided, however, against taking it forward.
In the intervening period the moderate groups and the FSA have lost influence, territory and members to the jihadists, primarily Isis and Jabhat al-Nusra, who received lavish funding from Qatar and Saudi Arabia – two of the countries now in the US-led coalition bombing the same groups.
Shifting alliances and interchange of fighters between the rebels have made it extremely difficult to even determine who exactly is the enemy. Al-Nusra, hit by missile strikes from the US-led coalition, has been recently fighting against Isis alongside supposedly pro-Western groups. It is this “confused face of battle”, say Western military planners, which is making it harder to set up training facilities.
There you have the best proposal we have so far…..and training what more can we say…..a joke. Then there is the best pinch line so far in this war……’moderate’ rebels….we would have a better chance of finding a T. Rex in Miami……..
Thgere are too many people buying into a scenario that cannot work for the better of the region….and is working against a further participation by the US to fix the problem we created.
Please, if anyone out there sees a recipe for success in this blind endeavor….pass it on!
The hardest question to answer concerning the war on ISIS is if there are to be no Americans fight and we want to use the ‘moderate’ revels then who are these people that we will use to fight ISIS?
A question that begs an answer…..so far all we have is vague disconnected ramblings of the administration……..
Question for Obama’s Syria plan: Who are the ‘moderate’ rebels? | Al Jazeera America.
The big question on anyone’s mind that has an interest in the affairs of the Middle East…..Americans are told almost daily about these ‘moderates’……but is there such a thing?
A good piece from the Middle East that tackles that question……..
Is there a moderate Syrian opposition? – Al-Monitor: the Pulse of the Middle East.
I was sent this ‘toon via Twitter….I kinda like it…..can explain how we choose the friend from foe…….
House has voted to fund the training of ‘moderate’ rebels…..as soon as we decide just who those rebels are with ‘vetting’…..ah humor……this whole arming ‘moderates’ is not a good plan, in my opinion……
Your thoughts?
The McKeon Amendment – A Lend-Lease Act for Terrorists by Justin Raimondo — Antiwar.com.
Syria has slipped from the headlines….thanx in part to Christie and his bridge and the egg debacle of the Beebs…..there is so much more going on in the world and these are what mental midget want to focus on……so I guess it is up to me to keep the important people, my readers, up on the international implications going on in this little galactic sphere….
Syria is beginning to look a lot like Greece in late WW2…..various resistance groups started fighting each other and not the Nazis……….and years of chaos followed……something for Syrians to look forward to in the future (yes, that was sarcasm)…….
In case you missed it, and I bet you have, Syria is not going well….the rebels spend more time fighting each other and Assad sits back and claims more and more victories…
Syrian rebels are locked in a bitter and violent struggle—with each other. Hostilities between Syria’s more moderate rebel factions and the al-Qaeda-affiliated Islamic State of Iraq and Syria exploded into open warfare on Friday, and it’s been so costly that the head of another al-Qaeda affiliate, the al-Nusra Front, is calling for an Islamic court to be set up to settle disagreements, the New York Times reports. Abu Mohammed al-Jolani said the fighting was the result of the “incorrect policies” of the ISIS, but that if there wasn’t a ceasefire soon, “the whole battlefield … will pay the price of losing a great jihad.” Other rebels accuse the ISIS—which wants to combine Iraq and Syria into one Sunni-ruled country—of hogging resources, applying strict social codes, and kidnapping and killing its foes. So far at least 300 people have died in the rebel in-fighting since Friday, including dozens of civilians, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, and rebels today captured a hospital-turned-ISIS base in Aleppo, the AP reports. The infighting also highlights a challenge for Saudi Arabia, which is backing the rebels in hopes of ousting Assad’s Shiite, Iran-affiliated regime, but is uneasy about the potential for jihadist spill-over, the Times adds.
Now think about it…..do you think that the Iraqi government’s problems with AQ could be part of the plan to somehow combine the two countries? (This is your essay question for the day)…….
While the idiots, who once had Assad on the run, continue to fight….the government makes progress…..this from the Global Post……
Syrian troops seized a rebel-held town north of Aleppo on Saturday and pushed toward the second city, taking advantage of fighting between rebels and jihadists elsewhere, activists said.
“Regime forces have taken over the area of Naqarin and are advancing towards the industrial area of Aleppo city,” said the Aleppo Media Centre, a network of activists on the ground.
“This advance is clearly a result of the rebels being busy fighting Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant,” activist Nazeer al-Khatib told AFP in a Skype call.
The army’s moves come eight days after Islamist and moderate rebels fighting to topple President Bashar al-Assad’s regime launched a major offensive against ISIL.
Syria is becoming a more bloody mess and NO one is watching and NO one cares……and that is WHY I AM HERE!
My readers know I keep a watchful eye on the Middle East…not only did I work in the area but I still have friends….some of whom are in Syria……so I watch and write…..
Assad must go……Assad cannot remain……we mkust do everything to rid Syria of Assad…..the world will be a better place with Assad gone……….remember all those cute little diatribes from about a year ago?
But what has the world done to rid Syria of Assad? A little aid here and there……few weapons here and there……humanitarian aid, too little……what has the world done? The best answer is give AQ a whole new battle ground to use in their recruiting….and they seem to better at it than the opposition…..t6he world is creating a stronger AQ that eventually they will have to deal with…..yet again.
But with all that said….I need to answer the question…….
Well the west has an idea…..will not be popular but they are thinking about a resurgent AQ not the safety of the Syrian people……in a piece written by Jason Ditz…….
Members of the Syrian National Coalition (SNC) report that they have been told by Western officials that they believe President Bashar Assad must remain in power to prevent an al-Qaeda takeover of the country.
“Some do not even seem to mind if he runs again next year,” noted one SNC member. That’s not sitting well with the SNC, but it may not matter.
Western diplomats confirmed the shift, saying that the rebels have been warned that any “transitional administration” would have to include a major presence from Alawites, and that Assad could stay as president with “diminished powers.”
If the rebels reject that plan “they will lose most of the West,” one diplomat said, reflecting the dwindling confidence in the secular rebels’ ability to accomplish anything on their own.
This appears to be only one of the possibilities the West is exploring, with both the US and Britain openly talking to Islamist rebels about backing them as the new “pro-West” rebels.
At what point does this all just become a chess game and it was NEVER about the civilians being killed and maimed?
Thoughts?
Keeping with the focus of today…..foreign policy. Syria is on NO one’s mind at this time………but the US and the UK have done something that got little attention thanx to the endless brain numbing Obamacare rhetoric……..
(Newser) – The US and Britain have cut off aid to Syria’s opposition, after Islamist rebel groups seized bases loaded with Western-provided goods from their former Free Syrian Army colleagues. The move won’t affect humanitarian aid, a US embassy spokesman tells the BBC, but rather the “non-lethal” military assistance the countries have been providing, like radios and body armor. The Islamic Front, a massive coalition of Jihad-minded groups that recently broke from the FSA, seized the facilities last week, capturing anti-aircraft and anti-tank rockets among other supplies.
“We hope our friends will rethink and wait for a few days when things will be clearer,” said a spokesman for the FSA, which Reuters points out, desperately needs international backing to maintain its legitimacy. The move comes on the heels of two high-profile kidnappings by Islamist groups. Major Syrian human rights lawyer Razan Zeitouneh was abducted yesterday along with three of her colleagues, the New York Times reports, just hours after two Spanish journalists were kidnapped in a separate incident.
Is this a good direction? I think that the US learned a lesson in Afghanistan in Wilson’s day………you cannot support the fundies and not supervise what they are doing or what they really hope to accomplish……throwing money at the problem simply because you do not approve of the current leader is a waste of time, money and effort.
This situation will become even more murky in 2014……..the map will give my reader a good look at the problems to come……..make NO mistake even with Assad gone….the problems will only be amplified……
The only really good news coming out of Syria is that Assad’s CWs most if not all have been located, tagged and await final destruction…….the really bad news is that there is a snake in the grass and is just waiting for the best time to strike……the jihadists are that snake and this situation will almost guarantee that they will be a threat to all regimes in the area for years to come……..
Foreign policy will play a roll in the debates of 2014….the problem is that most of the policy will be driven by politics……there is a mid term election after all…….political rhetoric can do as much harm as a weapon.